vroddrew
11-04-2003, 01:40 PM
More than once I've been out on the road and noticed that some part of my bike was "buzzing" because a fastener had come loose. Fortunately I've always been able to find a friendly garage to lend me the appropriate tool to tighten things up again before I went too far.
Of course, the easy way to prevent this is to properly torque all your fasteners, and to make sure you've got a nice clean dab of Loctite on them first. But unfortunately we live in an imperfect world, and like most people, I don't make a habit of checking every fastener on my bike every time I roll it out of the garage. But to make the search easier - lets leave out the really big fastener sizes (like the axle nuts, and the shock bolts). These fall into the "critical fastener" category, and should be periodically checked, torqued, and loctited as part of your regular maintenance. I also find that the bigger fasteners like this are much less likely to come loose - which is probably a real good thing.
I've been giving some thought to the problem of things coming loose - and searching for the perfect set of on-bike tools for the V-Rod. This is not as easy as it might appear:
There are both SAE and metric fasteners on the bike.
There are multi-tools made for SAE fasteners - namely because H-D doesn't provide toolkits like every other bike maker, but not that many metric multi-tools
The V-Rod has zero built-in storage
They actually managed to put (2) different sizes of torx fasteners on the switchgear...
I initially liked the idea of taping a few allen wrenches inside the airbox - but the more I thought about it, the less sure I was. I'm not that thrilled about having to remove not only the airbox "skin", but also the plastic inner cover, most likely in a somewhat unfriendly environment (by the side of the road, in the rain, etc.) Moreover, most allen-wrench sets small enough to fit in there have a combination of keys that are too small (how often will you use the 2 mm one on the road?); with a lack of other tools necessary to do basic repairs.
Many people swear by the "Leatherman" type multi-tools, and indeed they are really great to have around if you should find yourself stranded in the wilderness. But I don't really think they have a lot of applications for the motorcyclist. I'm not going to start cranking on screws and nuts with a pair of pliers that really aren't designed for the purpose. And if I find myself trapped under my bike, I just can't see using the little saw to amputate my own leg to free myself.
Back in my mountain-biking days I bought a great little multi-tool, the Topeak Alien (http://www.chwhite.btinternet.co.uk/html/topeak_multi-tools_.html) . This has a good selection of allen keys, plus a few metric hex wrenches, a couple of screwdrivers (including a new torx bit); and a knife blade. The only downsides I see is that it has a couple of things that are pretty much useless for V-Rodders -a chain tool and tire irons, and that there are a couple of torx sizes you aren't going to be able to work on. It does come with a belt loop, so you can carry it with you, although I'd still be a little concerned about taking a spill with it attached to my torso.
Does anyone have any suggestions for something better? And what sort of "on the road" minor mechanical stuff have people encountered, that they would have been able to fix, if only they'd had the right tool with them?
Of course, the easy way to prevent this is to properly torque all your fasteners, and to make sure you've got a nice clean dab of Loctite on them first. But unfortunately we live in an imperfect world, and like most people, I don't make a habit of checking every fastener on my bike every time I roll it out of the garage. But to make the search easier - lets leave out the really big fastener sizes (like the axle nuts, and the shock bolts). These fall into the "critical fastener" category, and should be periodically checked, torqued, and loctited as part of your regular maintenance. I also find that the bigger fasteners like this are much less likely to come loose - which is probably a real good thing.
I've been giving some thought to the problem of things coming loose - and searching for the perfect set of on-bike tools for the V-Rod. This is not as easy as it might appear:
There are both SAE and metric fasteners on the bike.
There are multi-tools made for SAE fasteners - namely because H-D doesn't provide toolkits like every other bike maker, but not that many metric multi-tools
The V-Rod has zero built-in storage
They actually managed to put (2) different sizes of torx fasteners on the switchgear...
I initially liked the idea of taping a few allen wrenches inside the airbox - but the more I thought about it, the less sure I was. I'm not that thrilled about having to remove not only the airbox "skin", but also the plastic inner cover, most likely in a somewhat unfriendly environment (by the side of the road, in the rain, etc.) Moreover, most allen-wrench sets small enough to fit in there have a combination of keys that are too small (how often will you use the 2 mm one on the road?); with a lack of other tools necessary to do basic repairs.
Many people swear by the "Leatherman" type multi-tools, and indeed they are really great to have around if you should find yourself stranded in the wilderness. But I don't really think they have a lot of applications for the motorcyclist. I'm not going to start cranking on screws and nuts with a pair of pliers that really aren't designed for the purpose. And if I find myself trapped under my bike, I just can't see using the little saw to amputate my own leg to free myself.
Back in my mountain-biking days I bought a great little multi-tool, the Topeak Alien (http://www.chwhite.btinternet.co.uk/html/topeak_multi-tools_.html) . This has a good selection of allen keys, plus a few metric hex wrenches, a couple of screwdrivers (including a new torx bit); and a knife blade. The only downsides I see is that it has a couple of things that are pretty much useless for V-Rodders -a chain tool and tire irons, and that there are a couple of torx sizes you aren't going to be able to work on. It does come with a belt loop, so you can carry it with you, although I'd still be a little concerned about taking a spill with it attached to my torso.
Does anyone have any suggestions for something better? And what sort of "on the road" minor mechanical stuff have people encountered, that they would have been able to fix, if only they'd had the right tool with them?